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Live Review: Graeme Of Thrones, Charing Cross Theatre, WC2

By Bruce Dessau on 5/10/2017

There must be a word for it. The sub-genre of stage comedies that are send-ups of big hits. There was Potted Potter, and now there is this, which takes its inspiration from another smash. It feels to me as if they are shamelessly clinging to the coat-tails of the original work. But if they can avoid any lawsuits and raise some laughs why stand in their way?

And, of course, Game of Thrones is fertile ground for an un-authorized parody. If it isn’t the violence or the sex there is always Sean Bean’s accent to take the piss out of. The comedy is so broad here you would probably laugh if you didn’t know your Westeros from your Westfield Shopping Centre.

The production is supposed to be for the benefit of potential backers. Graeme thinks Lord Webber might be lurking in the stalls. But more things go wrong than in a Theresa May speech. In particular, there is in-fighting among the cast. One actor has pulled out even before the start, so techie Paul has to play his part.

John-Luke Roberts (Graeme), Nicola Lamont (Bryony) and Ross Spaine (Paul) all get stuck into their various roles with impressive gusto. Lamont is particularly good as scheming, pretentious Bryony who hijacks part of the production for a spot of interpretative dance and then nicks one of Paul’s various roles because it is meatier, leaving him to do her sex scene with Graeme.

The humour is daft but well-played, with jokes based on everything from the show’s penchant for nudity to the height of characters in it. What the production lacks in big-bucks special effects it makes up for in lo-fi inventiveness. There is a lot of puppet-based prop comedy and a little bit of audience participation but nothing too terrifying.

I’m not an expert so I’m not quite sure how many of the Seven Kingdoms we get to in the performance. At one point early on as the accents wobbled around I thought I was watching a ‘Allo ‘Allo tribute show, but luckily that moment passed.